Real Madrid Defeated by Espanyol in Last Minute

The Real Madrid (3rd) fell 1-0 in stoppage time at the Espanyol (13th) field on Tuesday in the first match of the 26th round of the Spanish League, which is led by FC Barcelona.

Gerard Moreno headed a cross from the right to score the winning goal for Espanyol (90+2).

The whites started strongly, besieging Diego López's goal, who made an outstanding save on Gareth Bale's close-range header (7).

In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was given rest by Zidane, Bale was the attacking reference for Real Madrid until Karim Benzema came on for Isco (68) to accompany him up front for the 'merengue' team.

As the minutes passed, the home team began to shake off Real Madrid's dominance, to the point that in the second half the locals ended up having the best chances.

In the 56th, Gerard Moreno connected a cross-shot that Keylor Navas managed to send out for a corner, and with a quarter of an hour to go, Moreno tested the Real Madrid goalkeeper again with a header (78).

The whites hardly troubled Diego López's goal in the second half, except for a long-range shot from Mateo Kovacic (60) without major consequences.

Just when it seemed like the match would end in a draw, Sergio García crossed from the right and Gerard Moreno, alone in the center of the area, scored the winning goal.

The defeat ends a streak of five consecutive victories in official matches for Real Madrid, who will travel to Paris next week to face Paris SG in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16.

Espanyol, on the other hand, climbed to thirteenth place to look towards the European positions.